The recent US military intelligence report acknowledging the significance of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) brought renewed attention to the 1966 Westall High School UFO sighting in south-east Melbourne, Australia. This incident has long been surrounded by allegations of a government cover-up.
On April 6, 1966, during a morning break, Joy Tighe, along with several classmates and teachers, witnessed a flying saucer hovering over their school. Tighe, who later recounted the event in the documentary Top Secret UFO Projects: Declassified, described seeing a disk-shaped object in the sky, drawing both excitement and fear from those present.
"I’d never seen anything like that before, and I wanted to take in as much as I could," she said.
Another former student, Marilyn Smith, shared her memories of the event with Bayside News in 2017. According to Smith, the sighting began when a classmate burst into their classroom, screaming that a UFO had landed nearby. Despite their teacher's attempts to keep them inside, the students ran outside when the bell rang. They witnessed a silver flying saucer hovering before it suddenly took off at great speed. Smith followed the UFO to a nearby grove, where it left behind an impression in the grass before vanishing.
The incident drew immediate attention from the media, with television crews and Channel 9 journalists interviewing students. However, a cover-up appears to have followed. The Channel 9 report was never broadcast, and photographs taken at the scene were never seen by the public. Hours after the sighting, government officials reportedly watched as the school principal instructed students to forget what they had seen and not to discuss it.
Though little physical evidence remains, the incident was documented in a local newspaper, the Dandenong Journal, on April 14, 1966. The article included an interview with Mrs. Judy Magee from the Victorian Flying Saucer Research Society, who noted the significance of the sighting but reported difficulties in obtaining information from witnesses. The article also mentioned military activity in the area, which was denied by an Army spokesperson.
Andrew Greenwood, a science teacher at the school, dismissed the possibility that the object was a weather balloon, stating that what he saw was a "classic cigar-shaped object" that moved erratically and appeared to be intelligently controlled. Despite decades of contemplation, he remains unable to explain what he witnessed.
Despite lingering doubts and skepticism, witnesses like Tighe continue to seek recognition and answers for the extraordinary events of that day.
Read more about The Westall School UFO Sighting in Issue 1 of Unknowing
Комментарии